There is no Such Thing As a Cheat Day

For me, that is. There is no such thing as a cheat day for me. Deciding to do away with that verbiage has changed my relationship to my food for the better, and I want to tell you all about it.

I have talked a lot about my most of the time food. My most of the time foods are vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans, organic soy, nuts & nut butters, and a little oil. Coconut oil, namely, or olive oil on a salad (rarely. I would so much rather base my dressing in tahini!) This is commonly referred to as “clean eating” I suppose, but I think clean eating is a ridiculous term, designed to capitalize on guilt and shame around food choices. I don’t eat the healthy whole foods that I eat out of a desire to be “clean”, I eat them because they make me feel good.

My most of the time foods are fucking awesome in their simplicity. I live in gratitude to my freshly fluffed brown rice and steamed kale. These foods are the basis of my life, they support my every function and I love the way they taste. These foods aren’t chosen because of a moral issue around purity and it isn’t about restriction.

I love my most of the time foods, but I also want to make sure to talk about the foods that I eat that are not on that list. These foods include tortilla chips, chocolate, vegan versions of ice cream, pizza, milkshakes, baked goods or nachos, etc. I eat some variety of a not all the time food at least once a week, and I am as grateful and proud of my choices as ever when I do. Those foods allow me to be social in a non-controlled way. They allow me to celebrate. They allow me to live in the moment when out and about in the world. They are perfect foods to support my health, because they lend themselves to hanging the fuck out with my friends. They support my athletic endeavors too, because regularly incorporating them into my life allows me to truly see how my most of the time foods deeply serve me. I am not left feeling restricted dietarily, because I regularly have foods that are just for fun.

I’ve noticed it is popular to call meals like the ones I mentioned above a “cheat meal” and maybe my panties are just extra in a twist because of semantics today but eff that noise! A cheat meal implies that our most of the time foods are set in place by an outside governing body, and that eating something different is a slight to a code of ethics. When I eat a just for fun meal I keep it to a reasonable amount (not eating until my stomach feels bad is the criteria I use for that one) and I enjoy it. Just by nature of calling something a cheat, there is a message sent that it should somehow make one feel guilty or devious. As a person who has struggled with feeling guilty about eating at all in the past, I simply don’t accept that my meals have to fall into a perfect code in order to be integrous.

My ice cream has integrity.

My broccoli has integrity.

Both serve the greater goal, which is to have an incredible and joyful life.

13 Responses

I love this blog post. I found myself saying “free day” which I think is very similar to “cheat day” because it makes you feel like all the other days are restricted. Defintely not going to say “free day” anymore. Glad you wrote about this.

Hear, hear! I used to think people were lying when they said they ate whatever they wanted. Things seem to have clicked for me lately, and I’ve been able to enjoy normal-person treats when I feel like it. The difference is, I don’t necessarily feel like it every day any more. I’m not in a binge/restrict cycle. I trust that my body is mostly gonna get it right. I can eat what I feel like eating. It’s freedom. It feels fuckin great.

I appreciate this post so much. Just today I ate a food item that was not necessarily “clean” although it was vegan, and I felt so guilty afterwards. But I shouldn’t! I ate because I was with friends and it was delicious.

No guilt necessary! No one is “perfect” and chances are, you needed that one meal or thing, either physically, emotionally, or spiritually. I find eating the occasional mild junk food helps keep me feeling satisfied with the good stuff day in and day out.